Bessarabia (Bessara`bia) , a government in the SW. of Russia, between the Dniester and the Pruth; a cattle-breeding province; exports cattle, wool, and tallow.
Population (circa 1900) given as 1,688,000.
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Bess, Good Queen * Bessar`ion, John